Moving heaven and earth for a music hall

Vincent Hayes: 'This is about bringing people together to eat, drink and be merry'

Dominic Cavedish

12:05AM GMT 15 Jan 2007

Dominic Cavendish on a Brick Lane impresario who refuses to give up

If you travel east on the Docklands Light Railway, heading towards London City Airport and look out of the window at the point where the train draws level with the Thames Barrier, you'll soon see a magnificent old Victorian Church, its spire rising proudly above the urban melee of disused Silvertown factories, old housing, new apartments and grubby roadways.

If you get off at Pontoon Dock and approach the church, St Mark's, by foot, you may well hear emanating from its hallowed walls not hymns or choir practice but the songs of yesteryear: songs familiar (Pack Up Your Troubles, A Long Way to Tipperary) and songs that have passed out of common currency (Oh Oh Antonio, Hold Your Hand Out Naughty Boy). This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Brick Lane Music Hall, the UK's only fully functioning music hall.

Once ushered inside by courteous liveried doormen, it's as though you've stepped into another world – a place that's as warm as an old East End boozer and as plush as a Frank Matcham playhouse. In place of pews, the nave, lit by a grand chandelier, has been filled with tables and chairs. The arch that once separated worshippers from the altar area now forms a natural proscenium – with a pair of red velvet curtains parting at the appointed hour to reveal a simple stage. The walls are adorned with old playbills and photos summoning a bygone age when the likes of Marie Lloyd, Little Tich and Dan Leno were the darlings of millions.

The first question to ask Vincent Hayes, the Irish-born impresario whose unsubsidised joint this is, and who acts as MC, has to be – what is the Brick Lane Music Hall doing miles from its supposed home? "It's a long story," he says, explaining how, 15 years ago, he converted the canteen of the derelict Truman Brewery on Brick Lane into the first proper music hall the East End had seen for decades. He'd spotted a gap in the market after making a feature of music hall bills as landlord of the Lord Hood tavern in Bethnal Green during the 1980s.

"We started out with an eight by four foot bit of plywood on a beer crate for a stage and an upright piano. It was a huge success," he says, citing Jack Straw, Jack Cunningham and Clare Short as among those who would pile in to hear Cockney standards hammered out on the old Joanna.

His dream of a fully fledged, not too fusty throwback to the golden age of variety nearly turned sour when members of the Asian community objected to the granting of a licence. "They mounted a petition saying it would introduce drugs and paedophilia to the area," he says. The protests resulted in a bizarre meeting at the police station. "Representatives from the local mosque came and we had a girl sing Daisy, Daisy to prove that there was nothing immoral about it."

There's still a streak of indignation in Hayes's voice: "All we wanted to do was bring music hall back to its original home, but no one took my side on the local council. They acted as though this was a really serious issue that needed to be looked at. Music hall may historically be a white working-class affair, but anyone can enjoy it. All you need is a sense of humour and the expectation of having a good time."

In the end it was unaffordable rent increases by the landlords rather than local opposition, which soon melted away, that caused Hayes to up sticks after four years and start from scratch in a former Hoxton button factory.

Once again, a rent hike forced him on his way in 2001. After finding £1 million to convert St Mark's, Hayes is hoping that Silvertown is his third and final stop. Newham Council has promised him a long lease on the building, but he vows: "I could take on another premises, if need be. At the end of the day, this is about bringing people together to eat, drink and be merry. It's about creating a happier society. And I'll move heaven and earth to make that happen."